Fermi National Laboratory

Installing IBM AFS Client 3.6 for Windows NT/2000/XP

Contents: Installation | Path | Configuration | Permissions | Troubleshooting | Notes

The AFS Client provides direct access to your AFS (Andrew File System) file space from your PC. You can use your AFS filespace as another disk where you can save your PC files, or make them available to share with others. For example, you can create Web pages on your PC and then drag the generated files into your web folders in your AFS home folder (public_html).

Installation

Note: You need to have administrative privileges on your computer in order to install the AFS Client.

  1. Obtain the AFS client install from either:
      \\pckits\DesktopTools\PC_Tools\Apps
      or in AFS space -
      /afs/fnal.gov/afs36/i386-nt40

      Double-click the setup.exe icon. A setup program will guide you through the installation.

    • Choose U.S. English as the preferred language, then click OK.
      When the Welcome screen is displayed, read the text then click Next to continue.
      Select I Agree to the License Information box that appears


    • Then Select Components screen is displayed next.

      • In the Components box, make sure that AFS Client is checked. (If you check the AFS Supplemental Documentation box, the AFS Administration Reference and AFS Administration Guide files will be added to the AFS online documentation set. These are not end-user documents.)

      • The Destination Folder box shows the default drive and directory where the selected components will be installed. Click Browse to change the default drive or directory.

      • Click Next to continue with the installation.

    • After the selected files have been installed, you will be prompted to restart your computer. Select Yes and then click Finish. Your computer will be shut down and then restarted.

Return to top

Modify Your Path

A. You will need to modify your path

  1. Right click on My Computer
    Go to Properties

  2. Click on the Advanced Tab
  3. Click on Environment Variables

  4. Then in the System variables box scroll to Path

  5. Click once on Path to highlight it

  6. Click on Edit.
    7. Your screen should look like the example below.

  7. Select and copy (Ctrl-c) the following value (ensure you copy the semi-colon)

    8. ;C:\PROGRA~1\IBM\AFS\Client\Program;C:\PROGRA~1\IBM\AFS\Common

  8. This value needs to be placed after the following string in your path. (Move your pointer to the end of `Wbem`)
    9. C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT;C:\WINNT\System32\Wbem
  9. Press Ctrl-v to paste the portion that you saved in your buffer above
  10. Click Set, Apply, then OK
  11. Reboot your machine, then continue with the Configuration

Return to top

Configuration

A. Start AFS Service

After you reboot, you should see the AFS icon, which looks like a padlock (). It is located in the system tray in the lower right section of the screen.

The red X next to the padlock indicates that the AFS Client Service is not running - you have not authenticated and received an AFS token. The service can be started by completing the following steps:

  1. Left click on the AFS icon in the system tray.

  2. The program will load the AFS Client Wizard, which will walk you through the process of starting and configuring the AFS Client Service. Click Next to continue.


  3. Fill out the dialog box as shown and then click Next to continue. The red X adjacent to the AFS icon will disappear.
    • Select Obtain tokens in the following cell:
    • AFS Cell: fnal.gov
    • User Name: enter your AFS username
    • Password: enter your AFS password


B. Mount AFS Directories

Now that the AFS Client service has started, you are able to mount AFS directories by mapping drive letters to paths in AFS.

To map drive letters on your computer to paths in AFS:

  1. Follow the instructions for starting the AFS service.
    If you encounter the following, then you will have to configure the AFS client.


  2. Click on the Advanced tab, then Configure AFS Client Next to continue.

    • Enter fnal.gov in the Cell Name:
    • Click Start Service

    • Click on Drive Letters then Add to map Drive Letters
    • Enter the AFS Path: then Enter a description (up to 12 characters) for the AFS path.


  3. If you want to map another drive letter to an AFS path, click the AFS icon in the system tray and then select the Drive Letters tab.

  4. Click the Add button. The Map Drive Letter dialog box will be displayed. Select a drive letter, type in the AFS path, enter a brief description and click OK.

    Note: The following example shows how to mount a user's backup of their home directory.
    Daily backups of the entire Fermilab cell are available from
    \afs\fnal.gov\files\backup

  5. The AFS service is now ready to use. Go to Windows Explorer and use your AFS-mapped drives like any other drive on your computer.

Return to top

Directory Permissions via Access Control Lists (ACLs)

There is an ACL for every directory in AFS. The ACL specifies protection at the directory level (not file level). Each entry in an ACL consists of a username or an AFS protection group paired with a set of permissions (e.g., read, write).

The permissions granted in a directory's ACL represent the maximum permissions. If a file in the directory has more restrictive permissions set, the user is limited by the restrictions on the file. If a file has more lenient permissions set, the user is limited by his ACL entry.

  1. Right click on one of the AFS mounts that you have and navigate to AFS

    2. then to Access Control Lists . . .

ACL rights include:

l
lookup rights (permission to examine the ACL and traverse the directory (needed with most other access rights)).
i
insert rights (add new files or sub-directories)
d
delete rights (remove file (s) in directory)
a
administrator rights (allows user to change the ACL for a directory; note that you always have this right for your home directory even if you accidentally remove this ACL.)
r
read rights (allows user to look at the directory's contents and to read the data in the files contained in the directory)
w
write rights (allows user to modify the contents of the files in the directory and to change the UNIX mode bits with the command chmod)
k
lock rights (allows user to run programs that need to flock files in this directory; see the man pages for flock)

Rights may also be referred to by special names that designate commonly-assigned combinations of rights. These are called combination rights. The defined combination rights are:

write
all rights excluding a (i.e. rlidwk)
read
l and r rights only (i.e. rl)
all
all rights (i.e. rlidwka)
none
no rights; this removes the group's or user's entry from the ACL entirely

Return to top

Troubleshooting

If you encounter problems . .

  • Is the AFS service started?

Start AFS Service:

  1. To check whether the AFS Service is started, click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

  2. Locate the entry for IBM AFS Client on the Computer Management screen. If the status the Status column is not Started, double-click on the AFS Client entry.

    Note: You need to have administrative privileges in order to start the service.

Notes

  • The AFS drive descriptions in Windows Explorer may be cryptic (for example, 'auto1'). If you are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you can change the name of the AFS drives using Windows Explorer the same as you would any other folder.
  • Additional information may be found at Unix at Fermilab, Chapter 9: The AFS File System
  • You may be able to use AFS as a means of file transfer while using your ISP from home. Start your AFS client and transfer files up to AFS at home, then when at the lab mount the volume and you are able to access file(s).

Return to top

last modified 12/06/02    email helpdesk@fnal.gov
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory